In 1861 Oliver Wendell Holmes created and deliberately did not patent a handheld, streamlined, much more economical viewer than had been available before.
Between 1849 and 1850, David Brewster, a Scottish scientist, improved the Wheatstone stereoscope by using lenses instead of mirrors, thus reducing the size of the device.
It was shown on an Argentine government chart of 1950, and named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1960 for Sir David Brewster, Scottish natural philosopher who in 1844 improved the mirror stereoscope invented by Sir Charles Wheatstone by substituting prisms.